International Responsibility of States in Humanitarian Assistance: Emphasizing the issue of the COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of coronavirus, which first started in Wuhan province ofChina and infected the whole world in less than eleven weeks, has been oneof the most important challenges to human health and safety since WorldWar II. Although the main task of ensuring the health and minimumlivelihood of human life is the responsibility of state and the place of humanhabitation, the various economic, social and health effects of the coronaviruson human life necessitate humanitarian assistance from all states. The mainquestion of this article is whether there is a customary obligation for states tohelp each other in combating the spread of the coronavirus and its economic,health and social consequences. The author's hypothesis is that there is acustomary obligation for affluent states to assist vulnerable states incombating the Quaid-19 virus. In particular, the inability and failure of astate to fight the virus will lead to its proliferation and spread to neighboringstates and beyond, and it is in the interest of all states not to limit the fightagainst the virus to their national and internal borders.